Affordable center channel to match Sophia's?

George, I have a very similar problem, but in my case rears and matching (I'm using that term loosely) my Shahinian main 2CH speakers. I know the "right" answer in my case is Shahinians for the back (NOT cheap) and an amp. I'm not that much into MC, and even a reasonable tonal match would be good. And in my case if they can be self powered all the better.

I'm not worried about a center. My speakers are "polyradial" to begin with (think omnidirectional), so a phantom center though my MC controller would probably be good enough.

Well, I'm going off on a tangent here, but I bought a pair of Swans M200s from John at Gustosounds when he listed recently on the 'gon. Figured I'd try them as cheap self powered surrounds. Yeah, I know they're not dipoles or bipoles, but I figured for the price I could try and offset them a little bit from the listening spot.

After about 60 hours of break in I can say I'm reasonably impressed that such an inexpensive speaker sounds as good as it does. Piano sounds like a piano, guitar sounds like a guitar. High end is clear and not harsh, low end (for its size) is not bad. It plays louder than I need it to without obvious distortion. There's a small range in the vocal area that sounds a little boxy, but I haven't gotten them off the floor yet. It makes pretty nice music; nice enough that if I can be satisfied with their placement as rears I think I'll like them!

I've heard that speakers have gotten better, for the money, over the years. While I've heard that being true with more costly models, I guess it's also true for low priced jobs, if the manufacturer cares to do it.